Went to the range to do some drills with my Glock 23 Gen3 RTF2 with scales. This is my favorite Glock ever. Great grip (although I have put a Hogue on it since it can hang on and tear up clothing), concealable, easy to put lead on target, high capacity, reliable, has a tac rail, has the rare (and grippier) fish scale grooves on the slide, and of course Glock's ergos are good if you're a fan... I've installed a lighter trigger connector and have an extended mag release, but I'm on the fence about installing that. Unlike many, I'm happy with the stock Gen 3 slide release. I do have some Ameriglo night sights on the way and will be installing those as well. To me it speaks very well of this mass manufactured product that it will be a perfect carry weapon being almost entirely stock. I was satisfied with the groupings from my drills and had a lot of fun.

I also rented a Nighthawk Custom GRP and shot 50 rounds through that. As much fun as I had with the G23, the GRP is even more fun to shoot. It's hard not to put rounds exactly where you want them with it. It feels very good in the hand and is so tightly constructed. I wouldn't want this as a carry, but it would certainly be fine for home defense and is the best range weapon I've had the pleasure of firing.

Have you considered doing a 25 cent trigger job to the stock components? I've done that to all my Glocks and they're perfect now. I tried using a minus connector but I didn't like the mushy trigger

For what it's worth, I like the stock slide lock too. I don't use it as a slide release, and my grip rides really high, so an extended slide release would cause my grip to interfere with it and my slide wouldn't lock back on the last round

In fact, I replaced the extended slide stop and minus connector in my 34 with the regular ones just because it was making me crazy

All my Glocks are set up the same way for consistency. That way, they all more or less feel the same, which is important for me since my 34 is my range/fun Glock, my 17 is my back up home defense gun (in case my rifle goes down), and my 19 and my 26 are my carry guns (not at the same time). Same sight picture, same trigger pull, same grip

I'm not a great shot, and doing holster drills was humbling at best. A couple of my first shots were embarrassingly wide of the target, but once I got the sights on there they stuck, so the recoil management was good. At the 21' range I was using I still would have probably wounded a human target assuming aim was at center mass, but still....

The 1911 I didn't do any holstering since it wasn't mine and might not have even fit well, so I was able to just focus on hitting the target. It was such a great gun, I wish they were more affordable. I also wish I'd spent a magazine rested at longer range.

get ya a springfield, colt, something a little more affordable than a nighthawk. custom 1911s are very nice, wish i had one, but it probably will not be for a long time. i've looked at dan wessons too...not a custom 1911, but from what i have read, the quality is on par (close to it) with some of those customs. another gun 1911 i've looked into is the sig 1911 tacops. some will say it's not a true 1911 because the extractor is on the outside, but i've heard great things about it, and you can get it for just a little more than a glock if you look in right place.

I'm not a great shot, and doing holster drills was humbling at best. A couple of my first shots were embarrassingly wide of the target, but once I got the sights on there they stuck, so the recoil management was good. At the 21' range I was using I still would have probably wounded a human target assuming aim was at center mass, but still....

I don't like to advocate gear making for a better shooter, but the best thing I ever did to improve the speed of my shooting was put Big Dots on all my guns. In fact, if they don't make a sight for a gun, I won't even consider it

They do take a while to get used to and you won't be shooting bulls eyes at 100 yards, but for a concealed carry weapon or a home defense weapon, they're great